Nicholas Stuart is a columnist with the Canberra Times.
Nick Stuart has written three books,
Kevin Rudd: An Unauthorised Political Biography;
What Goes Up: Behind the 2007 Election; and
Rudd's Way: November 2007 - June 2010.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

It's the way the parties run things - presidentially.

We seemingly no longer vote Labor or Liberal; your vote is only for 'Rudd' or 'Abbott'.

It's not, unfortunately, a policy choice. Everything emphasises the personality of the leaders.

This won't work particularly well for Labor, as this article in today's Canberra Times explains . . .

“Enough,
I say, enough"

Perhaps accidentally, but Bill Shorten got it absolutely right when he
said, “I know who's more popular. It's Tony." Make-up artist Lily Fontana
got it totally right when she said, “I've never had anyone treat me so badly
while trying to do my job." A third of the Cabinet got it completely right
when they resigned rather than work with Rudd.

They didn’t judge him politically – their conclusions are personal and
based on the belief that Rudd only cares about himself. According to them the
rhetoric and the fine words simply serve to camouflage personal ambition,
detached from reality.

Indications that Rudd is living in a delusional world came when he
allowed the perception to grow that he’d stopped campaigning to “undertake, in
a calm and measured fashion" briefings on the situation in Syria. “These
are troubling times in the international community," he said, “and we need
to focus carefully and squarely on unfolding events as they affect Australia's
core national interests." Surprisingly, it appears we’ve done nothing.
Perhaps out interests weren’t involved, after all.

Rudd may have no policy principles, but we can live with that. But
socio-pathology (the absence of a moral compass and the belief that reality can
be defined in a manner to suit yourself) is another thing altogether. To
justify overthrowing Julia Gillard, he claimed she was “leading Labor to a
catastrophic defeat". Now he says “I will not be engaged in any character
assassination of her or her political . . . record". Both statements can’t
be true.

He’s now attempting to slam the door on asylum seekers after earlier
encouraging them to come. His revamped Carbon Tax is as meaningless as Tony
Abbott's. The inequality of wealth and opportunity has increased under Labor. Neither
party is offering a real choice. In minimising differences with the coalition,
Rudd gives no one a reason to vote for him.

Growing up is
all about learning to interact with other people. When someone looses contact with
our shared reality, we say they’re “on another planet”. What we mean is that
whatever they’re doing, it doesn’t intersect with our shared understanding of how
the world works. This is an occupational problem for people in power.

It’s also what
makes a leader, because they’re all slightly mad in their own way. A determined
person won’t accept limits. They build a myth to insisting they’re ‘special’.
This allows them to slip the bonds holding others back. Bob Hawke, for example,
had his ‘special connection’ to the Australian people. Paul Keating possessed
an ability to pull the ‘economic levers’. Some even suggest John Howard made
the country feel ‘comfortable’. Julia Gillard was a ‘great negotiator’.

The trouble is
these are just myths. It works when somebody’s on the way up, but then comes
the moment when it all falls apart. Kevin Rudd, for example, stops being
‘fiercely intelligent’ and becomes just another maddie. Disillusionment spreads
rapidly. That’s why when Rudd was overthrown it took his colleagues only
eighteen hours to agree to pull him down.

But because he
was a leader (in other words, mad), Rudd didn’t accept their verdict and it’s
why, still full of self-belief, he clawed down Gillard. He doesn’t listen to
anyone. That’s why his sons (not just one, but both of them) had to be brought
onto the campaign team. Their job was to “speak truth to power” and keep him in
touch with reality.

This, more
than anything else, demonstrates why Rudd’s campaign is falling apart. He is,
in short, arrogant and offensive to people whether they’re putting on make-up,
picking up his clothes, or serving up policy papers. Let me assure you, it’s
not just one make-up artist who’s suffered. I’ve heard similar complaints
expressed by a significant number of staffers over the years, although always
on the basis that the details aren’t to be repeated.

Arguably it
doesn’t matter if he’s a rude pig as long as he gets the job done. Some would
excuse a gifted and talented Leader from trivialities because they’re operating
on a higher plane. Or, as Rudd claimed, “in the zone”. This works fine while
things are going well; the trouble arrives if it begins to fall apart. There’s
no one to fall back on.

Rudd’s going
down. People in the party are already peering over his shoulder to secure their
future, because he won’t be shaping it. They’ve begun looking beyond Rudd to
see who’s coming on as the next leader. There’s a spreading realisation that
this campaign represents the end. There will be no forgiveness.

The election
campaign has moved into a new phase. The circle in the Rüddenbunker is growing smaller.
Increasingly, people are keeping one eye on the exit. Too many inside Labor
hold bitter grudges. It’s the media’s job to record, honestly and faithfully, what
others tell them. Facts are verifiable – but packing a story full of fact
doesn’t mean that you’re faithfully recording what’s occurring. It’s necessary
to look beyond the statements to discern reality.

There comes
a moment, once every three years, when the spinning and construction and the myth-making
stops. That time is finally approaching with all the ruthless finality of a
Soviet tank army closing in on Berlin in 1945. The phantom defences won’t be
enough to stop Tony Abbott’s assault. Many voters may not particularly like
him, but they still prefer him to Rudd. That’s for a reason.

3 comments:

And interestingly Rudd passed over key experienced ALP stalwards for the election campaign team when he installed Sam Dastyari as a key campaign coordinator in the Melbourne HQ. And promises were made to these people.

Yes, although not everyone volunteered to work for the new leader. Perhaps more significantly, I don't know how much advice Rudd's actually taking from some of the better people who are working for him (as I think you're suggesting).

Bruce Hawker likes to be seen to manage Rudd's campaign. He appeared as his "strategist" also when Rudd resigned as foreign minister in Washington. What a poor campaign that led to: instead of waiting quietly on the back bench, instead of refusing invitations to challenge with the explanation that "as yet there is not a majority who wants me back", Rudd went straight to a challenge in which he was defeated--whereupon he unnecessarily promised there would be no further challenge, a promise he repeated in various (gradually attenuating) forms until he did finally challenge sucessfully, but "too late".

Gillard did indeed go "too late" -- she should have stepped down voluntarily or been removed early enough for someone other than Rudd to take over the leadership of the government.

A sorry saga. The caucus made two big mistakes: (1) sacking Rudd summarily in 2010 without any attempt to get him to change his style (he wouldn't have changed, but there should have been an attempt), and (2) bringing him back in 2013.